Twitter / jeremyweate

Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Perhaps the worst accent in the history of human languages, anywhere in the world at any point in time or space, is the Cannock accent. It is objectively and scientifically terrible. Linguistics departments should research how this dead-end-to-nowhere accent has managed to survive, despite obvious socio-Darwinian defects (who on earth would want to marry into it?). The mournful-yet stupid-cadences of this whiny brogue impose a tragic framework of general stupidity upon the people subjected to it as part of their upbringing. For a baby to yawn in a Cannock accent is for that baby to yawn just a little less intelligently than babies elsewhere on the planet. There has never been a national TV advert featuring a Cannock accent, nor will there ever be.

For those unaccustomed to the Cannock accent - think Brummy but way way worse. The clip above is a nice example. The fact that 'clever Paul' has filmed himself showing off his Ford Escort Ghia and manoeuvering his way out of a multi-storey car park in Cannock says it all. Paul would make a wonderful comic character for Sasha Baron-Cohen I reckon...

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Its been a while since I've found a good Nigerianesque blog. Bunmi Oloruntoba's Bombastic Element is a treat, especially if you have broadband and can youtube yourself to a stupour (or even to a stupor). Its a riot of thoughts, links, clips and musings.. Check it.

Monday, March 29, 2010

There's an interesting section on the canoe houses in Falola and Heaton's A History of Nigeria:

"In the Ijo-speaking communities of the eastern Niger delta, the canoe house became the organisational unit responsible for conducting the slave trade with Europeans. A canoe house was a branch of a lineage that had developed enough wealth, most likely through the trade in slaves, to equip a war canoe of fifty soldiers that could be put at the disposal of the state in times of peril. The ability to equip a war canoe served two functions. First, it illustrated the power of the house - and, by extension, the house head - in the community, thereby establishing the house as an important actor in local affairs. Second, the war canoe could itself be used for the procurement of more slaves. Slaves could then be sold for more wealth or incorporated into the house. Those slaves incorporated into the house would help in the procurement of more slaves. Over time, slaves became assimilated into their new house, and through marriage, or bravery in battle or slave raiding, could become fully integrated into the house, even to the point of becoming the house head. House systems such as these had emerged in both Bonny and Elem Kalabari by the end of the seventeenth century."

This accommodating approach to household slavery is of course the story of what happened to King Jaja of Opobo, as mentioned in my earlier post below.

The text goes on to discuss the was in which the Ekpe secret cult was used as a system of rules to control the slave trade in the Bight of Biafra (a little similar to how the masons controlled business in medieval times), and how the Aro Confederacy adopted Ekpe in order to assert its authority, via the oracle at Arochukwu. There is a fascinating passage a couple of pages further on which brings to mind present day evangelical pastors:

"While surrounding groups stood in awe of the oracle at Arochukwu, the Aro themselves did not hold the oracle in such high regard. Rather, they manipulated the oracle to achieve commercial dominance in the region. According to Opoko and Obi-Ani, "In the town of Arochukwu itself... the indigenes did not disguise the fact that the oracle was a fraud manipulated by some selfish, though entrepreneurial, individuals in their midst in order to exploit outsiders and hold them in perpetual awe." Nevertheless, the Aro managed to keep the secret of the oracle to themselves, while simultaneously invoking the oracle to enhance their own authority and bring a sense of overarching law and order throughout a region known for its decentralised political institutions and high level of internal strife... The ploy worked, and the Aro applied the religious authority of the oracle to maintain a stranglehold on the slave market in the interior of the Bight of Biafra throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries."

Here. Its only when you get to the bottom that you really suss it out:

"A comprehensive Plan of Action, featuring general apologies, detailed apologies, apologies in Braille and apologies in rhyme that Shell employees will hang on the walls in their offices, will be presented at Shell’s Annual General Meeting on 18 May 2010 in The Hague."

Run by Duncan Clarke, Adire African Textiles is a London gallery specialising in vintage African textiles. Its online resource centre is here and blog is here. There's a brilliant entry on Aso Oke here.

There are two stand-out essays in the excellent coffee-table book The Curse of the Black Gold, complementing the striking photography elsewhere in the book. Both are remarkable reads for anyone interested in Nigerian history, the oil business and present-day political opportunities.

The first, by UC Berkeley Professor Ugo Nwokeji, "Slave Ships to Oil Tankers", reviews the long duree from the slave trade through the palm oil business to the hydrocarbon trade of our times in the Niger Delta.

Sites such as Bonny Island and the two inland ports of Forcados and Escravos (Portuguese for 'slave') have histories woven around the three globalising trades. Although the powerful currents have washed away the evidence out into the Atlantic, history lingers like a recalcitrant wet season cloud over these places.

Bonny Island for instance exported 16,000 slaves annually in the late eighteenth century; by the mid 1840s, a dozen 'Liverpool Houses' (firms) operated on the island, exporting 25,000 tons of palm oil annually, supplying Britain with soap aplenty. Today, Bonny is the site of the massive Nigerian Liquified Natural Gas (NLNG) complex, which cost US$12bn to construct (exporting most of its liquified gas to the West). Bonny Island and its people have yet to fare well out of this long history - today, the area is a case study in man-made environmental devastation and human neglect. The acid rain (real, as opposed to the urban mythic variety in Lagos) created by gas flares alone brings slow death to thousands of Bonny Islanders.

We learn from the text of the "War Canoe Houses" - Pepple, Brown, Jumbo, Halliday and co - trading families favoured by the British for the double function of controlling water-routes inland to access palm oil, as well as to restrict trade in slaves (continued by the Spanish after Abolition in Britain). Large and mostly symbolic, "war canoes" were code for powerful clans that emerged as middle-men supplying palm oil from inland to British merchant interests. They came with their own micro-cultures of songs and rituals. Most, but not all of these names and their descendants are forgotten.

Nwokeji's essay poses the figure of the ship as the locus for the realisation that despite the discontinuities across the centuries, the slave trade, palm oil trade and the oil trade were all driven by global capitalism and the black Atlantic. At the end, he suggests that we might look back on the tankers of the oil age as we now do on the slave ships of centuries past,

"A time may come when oil will be viewed in a manner not unlike eighteenth-century slavery, the greenhouse gasses emitted from hydrocarbons perhaps akin to slave-produced sugar, and free labour as a parable for renewable energy."

The second text, Ukoha Ukiwo's "Empire of Commodities", goes into more historical detail. Within the many caverns of my ignorance, I hadn't quite realised that the slave trade began with the Portugese export of slaves from the east to work in the mines of the Gold Coast in the 15th century (whence Escravos gained its name). Ukiwo discusses the rise of both the slave trade and the palm oil trade and the context of the British military "punitive expeditions" in the late 19th century to capture the palm oil trade from the middle men. This was the reason for the exiling of King Jaja of Opobo (an Igbo sold downriver by the Aro, growing up a slave, again in Bonny) - first to Barbados, then to Cape Verde and others such as Nana Olomu and King Koko of Nembe. One finds oneself yearning for a dramatisation of the last years of Jaja's life, amidst the verdant splendour of Cabo Verde, staring dolorously out east across the ocean in exilic mourning..

The thought of war canoes and of Niger-Delta historical figures such as King Koko and more recently Isaac Boro - the first freedom fighter of the Niger Delta in modern terms - leads one to the present day and the Acting President, an Ijaw son of a canoe maker. The history of the region is a centuries long story of global capital escaping across the seas. With this history in mind, it is hardly surprising that along with electoral reform, peace and prosperity in the Niger Delta will be at the top of his agenda...

Friday, March 26, 2010

On one level, its just a catchy song and a nice video coming out of Kenya. On another level, some are suggesting its the first Kenya meme that's gone global. Ethan Zuckerman's article (the link in the previous sentence) is an interesting one, posing the question of cultural barriers on the English-language internet. Makmende's site is here, wiki is here and twitter is here.

There are two Ushahidi implementations in Nigeria currently in beta here and here. It seems to me the challenge with Ushahidi is not the tech (implementations are easy-ish), its with the uptake. How best to embed Ushahidi within communities of interest? Your thoughts, o crowd..

I was thinking the other day about how to get more people buying Cassava Republic’s books – always a challenge. I started by thinking about how I buy books. From some quick analysis, I reckon my book buying is conditioned by the following:

oWord of mouth (45%)

oReading an interview with the author/reviews (25%).

oGifts (15%)

oCover design (10%)

oBrowsing in a bookshop, which is rare in Nigeria with so few decent bookshops (5% )

I’ll also buy a book if I am already familiar with the author’s work. I’ll always read anything written by Ian McEwan, Robert Harris, John Berger and J.M Coetzee (although that love affair is coming to an end thanks to the preponderance of miserable late middle-aged men in his books). I’ll also buy the latest African writing – last year’s find was Harare North by Brian Chikwava, whereas this year it has been Petina Gappah – I enjoyed her book Elegy for Easterly immensely.

Petina’s book came highly recommended by Bibi who is often critical of many contemporary writers. Another author recommended by Bibi is Al Aswany - the Egyptian author of the Yacoubian Building. I originally bought it because I liked the cover and thought Bibi might also like it, but never read it, until Bibi discovered it amongst the waiting-to-be-read books a year later.

If I see her reading a book into the night it means she likes it. If she waits a couple of days and says nothing about the book, then I think ‘here we go, she loves it.’ Once she is ready, she goes on endlessly, reading out favourite lines until I give in and read it myself. So for now, I am sold on Petina and Al Aswany..

What I’ve noticed about living here is that people don’t often talk about books they read with passion, compared to the way they talk about politics or the Premier League. So I don’t get to hear about new discoveries. Or perhaps, men generally don’t gush about books the way women do! But then again most of my friends in the UK who recommend books to me are blokes. But perhaps I am meeting the wrong people.

Anyway, I’ve decided to come up with a list of how I think people can support Cassava Republic and their favourite authors for that matter.

1. Buy and read the book – when you buy a book you ensure that author’s effort is rewarded and you help to make sure that the publisher publishes their next book. One guy read Diana Evans’ 26a and liked it so much because it helped him to understand what happened to his daughter and as a result he bought 100 copies and gave them out to schools near him. Till today, we know that if no one buys our books, at least 100 copies of every book we publish will be sold to this guy. You don’t have to commit to that amount, but you can decide that you want to continue to support our effort by committing to buying a certain number of any books published by us.

2. Spread the word – hearing somebody you trust speak about a book with passion and excitement is one of the most powerful ways to get people to buy a book. I know this because most of the novels I buy come through word of mouth. Not as a result of awards or reviews - as important as they are, but through others recommending them. You cannot imagine the number of bestsellers that rely on mouth-to-mouth. If you like a book, talk about it, Facebook it, tweet it or blog it. You can even have a picture file on Facebook with the covers and information about your the books you like or want to recommend and add the link of the author/publisher’s website.

3. Buy the book as a gift for others. When I was growing up, books featured more prominently as Christmas pressies than anything else. For the summer holidays, I was lucky enough that my mom would buy me at least ten books to read. I love giving books as presents and I love receiving them. If I like a book sufficiently enough, I’ll buy maybe three or four as presents. Bibi on the other hand used to go crazy and buy up to fifty copies of one book and send them off one by one. I remember thinking she was obsessed with Maria Rainer Rilke’s Duino Elegies and sending copies to friends all over the world. But online purchasing has changed all that. You can order books from Cassava Republic and surprise a friend with the package.

4. Blog about the book. On this blog, I have just over 200,000 unique visitors every month, yet I don’t promote books as much as I ought to. I’ll start henceforth. If you have a blog, blog about books and authors you like. You can leave comments on your favourite blog about your favourite author or a good book you have just read. Spread the word because it is powerful!

5. Get your local bookshop to stock the book. Sometimes bookshops only order books that they have heard about. You should wax lyrics about why they should order the books you like.

6. Request your school or college library to purchase copies. If you like any of our books or any books by an African writer recommend them to your school or your children’s school. You’d be amazed how many libraries in private schools in Nigeria do not have books by many contemporary African authors. We have found that many don’t even know and they are pleased to buy the books once we recommend it to them.

7. Recommend a book to your book club. We give discounts to book clubs for our books. I would like to be in a book club. However, as far as I know, all the book clubs in Abuja are women only. I think Bibi’s club are reading Al Aswany’s Chicago. This is a wonderful way to share what you like.

8. Tweet about the book you are reading. If you like a book, tweet it. Even go as far as quoting a line or two from the book. Remember to give the correct author’s name and title.

9. Buy books for your old school. Old school networks are so strong and powerful in Nigeria. Make use of them to purchase books for the benefit of the current crop of students. Also, use the network to invite authors to your alma mater.

10. Attend a book reading. There are lots of opportunities to hear writers talk about their work. Support them by attending their book events. Get your friends, colleagues and families to a reading and show an author your support.

These are some of my thoughts, combined with others. If you have any more thoughts how to promote a book or author, please leave your comment.

I used to love Spitalfields on a Sunday. Combined with Columbia Flower Market and the senses were rejuvenated in time for another round of weekday central London hassle.

The idea of renovating the space a few years ago was therefore a revolting suggestion. It felt like City money and City ways would engulf the place and it would lose its character - becoming a toytown Canary Wharf replicant.

Not so. Spitalfields now is much better than it used to be. There are still the stalls for up and coming artesans, but now they are surrounded by a gorgeous array of shops. There is a wall with a Jeanette Winterson poem in large letters which is well worth a slow read - a hymn to the area and what it was and now is. I had the most fantastic pitta bread and felafel served by a man who belongs in a film. This picture says it all. Spitalfields is one of the loveliest spaces in a city I adore...

The revelation of the show is that the Ori Olokun head in the British Museum collection (and on display) is itself a copy. So, contrary to what Soyinka wrote in his memoir, we still don't know what happened to the piece that Frobenius clapped eyes on.

Meanwhile, four gripes about the exhibition:

1. The idea that the Benin Kingdom emerged out of Ife is stated as fact. However, this story is told in mythic terms - Oduduwa's son Oranmiyan venturing east etc. I'm not sure how a mythic narrative can be used to create historical facts. Crowder himself suggests that the two kingdoms developed in parallel.

2. Benin is stated as being 'west' of Ife on one display board. This is geographically false.

3. There is no mention of Ifa divination in the exhibition. Given that Ifa mathematics was highly advanced, you'd think some context along the lines of it 'not just being sculptural excellence' would have been welcome.

4. Another board mentions the African origins of modern art and the astonishment in the 1930s when the Western world began to see the Ife pieces. Is this story itself not now an old story, or are we still at the stage where we are shocked that a Nigerian civilisation eight hundred years ago produced astonishing works of art?

These gripes are mere blemishes on the surface of an incredible roomful of works, it should be noted.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Well, The Future Project is introducing the long-awaited YOUNG WRITERS NETWORK CREATIVE CLASSES! And it's FREE.

1) Do you think you can write?

2) Do you want to be a good writer or know someone who would love to learn how to be a good writer?

3) Are you writing things at the moment for which you need direction and polishing?

4) Do you want to find out how to get your material published?

5) Do you want to know how and where to make an income from writing?

6) Do you want to intern with the hottest media and publishing houses in the country?

That’s exactly what we are about! Come and learn from Nigeria ’s most accomplished writers and writing teachers at the Young Writers Network Creative Classes starting in Lagos in April 2010.

The lecturers for this session include:

Bola Atta (Editor, True Love West Africa )

Jeremy Weate (Editor, Cassava Republic )

Muhtar Bakare (Publisher, Farafina)

Tolu Ogunlesi (Winner, CNN/Multichoice Journalist Awards)

Toni Kan (Author, Night of the Creaking Bed)

Prof. Akachi Ezeigbo ( Department of English, University of Lagos )

and others!

The classes run from April to June, with Internships running for a month in between.

To apply to be part of this life-changing opportunity, send a 300-word essay titled: Is Writing Now Irrelevant? to kenneth@thefuturenigeria.com BEFORE Friday 26 March 2010; including your name and phone number.

Our dreams occupy spaces, some of which endure across the nights. The space re-emerges, sometimes repeating the dreamt event, at other times, changing use, becoming the site for new dreams. In the new dreams, the space itself can morph, acquire rooms, change dimensions.

I had a strong sensation of the architectural uncanny when I first stayed in a London hotel with this staircase. This was the very site of a strange series of dreams. There were doors and mirrors and openings, exactly so. People were behind the doors, in separate worlds somehow. Ghosts were trying to escape, or beckoning without moving for me to walk through. All I could see were the mirrors on the doors, and the staircase.

It reminded me of my final haunting – at Church Farm. The ghost occupied the end room on the top floor. There was nothing except a discomfiting sensation and a sense of loss. The ghost was of a woman who died after seeing a hanging in the nearby town. Her presence lingered. She grew used to me sitting in the room, bearing some kind of witness.

I now keep staying at this hotel, in the expectation that something will happen there. And every now and again I use the stairs, not the lift. I stand and wait. Nothing happens. The ghosts have moved further away.

Monday, March 22, 2010

Our client, Partnership Initiative for Niger Delta (PIND) has been tasked to create dynamic multi-stakeholder partnerships that will take full advantage of the synergies of diverse organisation and interests. The purpose of the initiative is to foster sustainable economic development in the Niger Delta. To meet the demand of the initiative, our client is looking for qualified candidates to fill the existing vacant positions;

Job Location – Abuja

Capacity Building Programme Officer

The position holder will provide support to the development and implementation of PIND program in assigned areas and build capacity of local partners to ensure the achievement of program objectives.

Key Responsibilities

·Coordinate support for capacity building programs

·Identify new capacity building program opportunities

·Monitor performance of capacity building program implementers

·Collect, consolidate and report data associated with capacity building program activities

·Network with relevant stakeholders to maintain awareness of other capacity building initiatives in the Niger Delta

·Develop plans and ideas for capacity building activities for PIND staff and partners

Educational qualifications

A good first degree in Social Sciences or Humanities. A postgraduate degree in a relevant field will be an added advantage

Knowledge, skills & experience

·7 years relevant experience, at least 5 must be in similar position

·At least 5 years experience in working within a training or institutional strengthening program

·Experience in conducting organizational capacity assessments

·Experience in conducting organizational capacity assessments

·Experience working in the Niger Delta.

·Strong network of contacts amongst donors and NGOs

·Excellent negotiation, facilitation and presentation skills.

·Proven report writing skills

·Knowledge of local level issues

Peace-building Programme Officer

The position holder must have an aptitude for peace building programs, conflict analysis, understanding the causes of violence while identifying and promoting routes towards peace. S/he will be required to have a talent for communication and relationship-building at the community level.

Key Responsibilities

·Coordinate PIND support for Peace-building program

·Identify new peace-building program opportunities

·Monitor performance of peace-building program implementers

·Collect, consolidate and report data associated with peace-building program activities

·Network with relevant stakeholders to maintain awareness of other peace-building initiatives in the Niger Delta

·Monitor progress of post-amnesty programs in the Niger Delta

Educational qualifications

A good first degree in a related field of study. A postgraduate degree in a relevant field will be an added advantage

·7 – 8 years relevant experience, at least 5 must be in similar position

·Experience of working on peace-building or security sector reform in a conflict-affected environment

The position holder will be required to take a lead role in the process of using strategic information gathered from critical sector issues, lessons learnt across various similar programmes to advocate for change to enhance community / private sector development.

S/he will be required to plan, implement and analyse field-based research including case studies, surveys, public consultation and participatory action research to guide the organization towards the achievement of set objectives.

The responsibility of the M & E officer will be to implement a series of monitoring and evaluation tools to help PIND and its beneficiaries gauge progress, and to communicate results to a broad range of stakeholders.The M & E officer will ensure that the pipeline of projects is constantly informed by the lessons learned from earlier interventions.

•Gather photos and stories of interest from PIND’s programs to use in PIND publications

•Coordinate communications strategies and press releases with donor and program partners

Educational qualifications

A good first degree in Mass Communication or any other relevant Filed in Social Sciences or Humanities.

Knowledge, skills & experience

•A minimum of 6 years experience coordinating and implementing communications plans for NGO’s, donor agency or research organization in Nigeria

•Strong communications skills both written and verbal are essential

•Good IT skills are required including experience in producing newsletters (i.e. page design, layout and editing) using desktop publishing programmes

•Ability to make complex decisions within tight timescales whilst working with minimal supervision

•Experience working in the Niger Delta

•Strong network of contacts amongst media organizations

Administrative Officer

The position holder will be in charge of making sure that the organization is running smoothly and ensure supplies are adequately provided. S/he will also be required to provide and manage admin services in the form of logistics and other support services.

CV’s will not be assessed. Only applications forms with the job title clearly indicated as the subject of the mail will be considered and only short listed candidates will be contacted. Unfortunately we cannot provide feedback to candidates who are unsuccessful at shortlisting stage.